Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Big Baby Food is preying on young parents and their children. That’s the gist of a story in the Washington Post this week. But we wonder how helpful this scary story is for parents who merely want to nourish their infants and toddlers. Simple guidance would be great. Marketing hype and righteous fear mongering, less […]

Is there such a thing as righteous deception? If you want to make your head hurt, try to ask yourself that in the context of plant-based food alternatives. Fake meat and fake milk are going mainstream. But the folks who make real meat and real milk don’t like it. Not a bit. They think these […]

How can it be that fitness is so hot, yet obesity is stubbornly rising? Peloton is a case in point. It’s that uber-cool exercise bike selling for an appropriately cool $2,000 and up. Just in case you’re ready to part with some more cash, the company has a $4,000+ treadmill for you, too. But it […]

For most of the first 30 years of the obesity epidemic, the response has been simple. Address it as a failure of personal responsibility. But that hasn’t worked out so well. Marion Nestle explained this in her keynote address for the Obesity Medicine Association Fall Summit yesterday in Boston. Today’s food environment makes it socially […]

The o-word has long been a problem. “Obesity” is a medical term that is more than just off-putting. It’s a stigmatizing diagnosis. Even worse is labeling people as “obese.” That’s not OK. Most people with obesity will tell you that they might have some excess weight, but obesity has nothing to do with them. Thus […]

Velveeta ain’t what it used to be. That’s because consumers now don’t want ultra-processed food. Thus, 474 million dollars just disappeared from the balance sheet of Kraft Heinz. It’s all about the fading, intangible goodwill value of processed food brands. Serious Financial Pressure for “Big Food” Food marketing is all about building goodwill for brands […]

In business, we call this cross-brand marketing. We also call it stupid. Forever 21 has been sending out Atkins diet bars to customers who order from its plus-size clothing collection. In a culture where diet has become a four-letter word, this is not smart. my mom ordered some clothes from @Forever21 ‘s plus size collection […]

Who needs candy bars anymore? Boomers are too old for them. Millennials and Gen Z are woke to the poison that is sugar. So “functional” snacks are a thing. No wonder the folks who make M&Ms, Snickers, and Twix are buying into a functional food business called Foodspring. They’re ready to sell you yummy protein […]

How much added sugar is in a five-pound bag of sugar? It’s taken a while, but FDA has come up with a final answer to this challenging question. None. It’s all sugar, nothing added. The same goes for honey, molasses, or maple syrup. It turns out that the definition of “added” can be quite tricky. […]

What will you be grilling for your summer holiday feasts? Hot dogs are a traditional favorite. Why not substitute some fake meat made of pea protein? Hot dogs – despite a beloved cultural image – have never been an especially wholesome food. For more on this, we refer you to Upton Sinclair’s expose on the […]